Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto

Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto is acommunity leader and an American-educated Methodistminister.To show his loyalty to Japan, he had volunteered to an organize air-raid defenses.

Before the Bomb

The morning of the bombing, Reverend Tanimoto is asked by his friend to help him push some of his daughter’s belongingsto a house outside of the city center, to an area called Koi. Revered Tanimoto and his friends were about two miles away from where the bomb had dropped.

During the Bomb

Although Reverend Tanimoto was two miles away from the center of the blast, he was still thrown back in between two stone-like rocks.

Shortly After the Bomb

Reverend Tanimoto runs toward the center of the city in search for his wife and baby daughter. He sees hundreds of severely injured and burned people who are traveling in the opposite direction. As he searches, he passes buildings, where he hears people cry for help from under the rubble of wrecked houses. Mr. Tanimoto is ashamed that he is not injured as well and often asks the pardon of people whom he passes. While he is running through the streets he finds his wife with the baby, who are both unhurt. He then begins to lead a group of volunteers, including Father Kleinsorge, to put out the fire using clothing and buckets of water. He also finds a boat and begins ferrying people who cannot move themselves.

Years After the Bomb

Reverend Tanimoto works for peace for the rest of his life, and travels to America to give speeches and raise money for a peace center in Japan. With his cousins’ help, Reverend Tanimoto makes a name for himself in America. He appears on a television show, “This Is Your Life.” The producers of the show take him by surprise by having him appear with one of the pilots of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the bomb. He and cousins also take up the cause of the Hiroshima Maidens. Although this ends up backfiring on Reverend Tanimoto, and many people in Japan and America label him a publicity seeker. He lives off pension with his wife.